Lambda Legal returned to federal court today on behalf of Dana Zzyym, an intersex citizen and U.S. Navy veteran denied a passport because the U.S. State Department refuses to recognize a gender marker that is neither male nor female.

Lambda Legal is urging the State Department to issue accurate passports for non-binary people. This comes after a judge found that the State Department violated federal law in denying a passport to Lambda Legal client Dana Zzyym, a U.S. citizen and Navy veteran who is intersex.

Twenty years ago today, intersex activists took to the streets of Boston and demonstrated outside a conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics. It was the first public demonstration by intersex people in North America — an event commemorated yearly as Intersex Awareness Day.

Lambda Legal today argued in federal district court that the U.S. State Department erred when it refused to issue a passport to Dana Zzyym, a U.S. citizen and Navy veteran who is intersex and does not identify as male or female.

Intersex is an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of natural bodily variations. Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that do not fit typical binary notions of bodies designated “male” or “female.” In some cases, intersex traits are visible at birth, while in others they are not apparent until puberty. Some intersex variations may not be visibly apparent at all.

Intersex is an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of natural bodily variations. Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that do not fit typical binary notions of bodies designated “male” or “female.” In some cases, intersex traits are visible at birth, while in others they are not apparent until puberty. Some intersex variations may not be visibly apparent at all.

Lambda Legal today filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. State Department on behalf of an intersex client, Dana Zzyym, denied a U.S. passport because Dana could not accurately choose either male or female on the passport application form, and the form does not provide any other gender marker designation.